Saturday, January 3, 2009

December 23rd. The day this blog received its first award, from a person I would love to get to know in person, for - for what? Her sense of justice, of rightness, of beauty, of the wholesomeness of life? For what? What is it about her that I like - through the glimpses her blog has afforded into her mind? Tiny intangibles pepper our knowing; there is no untangling of threads once the mantle is woven: we can only add and keep on adding, and though we may cut the cloth to size now and then, the colour, the feel of it remains, essentially, unchanged... First impressions... last. And yet, we can but see what we are allowed to see. The jharokhe are latticed both within and without: the face we see is but a tiny part, perhaps true, perhaps not, and what we see is coloured and shaped also by what we were, at that moment in time and space. Such infinite breathless choices, random kaleidoscopic combinations, and you and I - we meet in just one throw of the dice... Isn't that even more true of blogs, which are created, and the craft, while it reveals, also conceals all that is superfluous to the perfection of that one entity? Would I like Nino's mum if I knew her - would I know it is her if I did? Would a mind recognize another, shrouded as we are in foggy shreds of conventions, good manners, personal shields and walls of life's accumulated detritus?

But perhaps I do know her, in the essence that matters. With age has come the realization that it is possible, that, in fact, it is alright to know and like a person in parts; that even if there is a little bridge, a tiny bridge which joins me to you, that connection is sufficient in itself; that there are infinite shades of gray... Some relationships in our lives are named, are solid and demarcated and easily identified, and socially accepted. Others, whether soul deep or barely significant, are vague, indescribable, confusing or unformed, yet they all complete us.

And so, with these unintended musings I present my tribute to Nino's mum, and thank her, both for the award, and the thoughts which she has inspired now, and before. I did not mean to write so; the post has written itself after the first sentence when I fell short in describing what I liked her for. But perhaps it is all for the best.

And now, for another bit of backlog. Wishing you all a very happy new year! I have been - am - traveling, and there hasn't been any opportunity to post before, for which I apologize. Perhaps I shall be better this year, more regular, more productive. At any rate we shall hope so!

Also, this computer I am using currently doesn't have any image editing program installed on it whatsoever. Weird but true, so I am going to post images later. Hopefully.

Are you familiar with Pigeon books? If so, you may already know about this site. But even for those who haven't read any, Pigeon presents is a cute site which will keep kids busy for an hour or so.

Three games, not more, but they are fun and somewhat quirky. Try them out!

Elephant and piggie dance to different tunes with moves that you choose - but will interact in funny ways in certain combinations, so be sure to hint that to your kid.

Dressing up a hot dog is fun, especially if you are a kid and most definitely want to see the pigeon walk away disgustedly because you have added underwear to the hot dog...

Play naked mole rat dress up game - now that is a mystery game! I don't remember it, and this slow connection is refusing to open it for me, so try it out on your own and let me know!

P.S. I solemnly promise to post the last incomplete post when I return home - and to list my awardess for the award!

P.P.S. - Now this is the real post script, added on 8th Jan 2009. Have added the images, and also need to add the following facts as well -

1. The naked mole rat game is new, to go with the latest book, and its tour. I just don't remember which game, if any, it has replaced. Standard dressing game, but would be much more interesting in conjunction with the book.

2. Hidden in the pals section are little fun facts about the characters in these books - and some downloadables like colouring pages or maze games.

3. Watch the author in the 'grown ups' section videos.

4. And, about the author himself! If you are an aspiring author for children's books, here is a bit of very useful information and advice from Mo Willems himself, and here is his website -http://www.mowillems.com/ Take a look for more information :)

Who am I?

What is this about?

Hello, new age internet baby! As times change, so do modes of instruction and entertainment, and the contents therein. Technology brings its own set of skills to master, even if minor ones. 'Hello, net baby' is a blog to showcase my collection of websites for young children. The title of each post will indicate how good I think the site is, on a scale of 1 to 5; the post itself is in two parts - some general chatter, in black, and the 'baby' part, in blue. A postscript section will always follow with strings of thought which are best handled separate from the main post. In some cases, it may even hold the main idea!

Feel free to disregard the extra chit chat and go straight to the section on websites. Your questions, suggestions and comments are welcome.